Install Ubuntu on the StarFive VisionFive 2 Lite

VF2 Lite (EN）
1

Now it’s officially supported, just installed it today.

https://canonical-ubuntu-hardware-support.readthedocs-hosted.com/boards/how-to/starfive-visionfive-2-lite/

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Does this have HDMI output? Are there GPU and VPU drivers?

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Limitations (the usual)

  • The on-board GPU is not supported :unamused_face:

  • PCIe support is incomplete: an NVMe drive can be used, but Wi-Fi cards and external GPUs don’t work :pensive_face:

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So, the StarFive customised Ubuntu is still more user-friendly than the official Ubuntu system. :slightly_smiling_face:

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I wish I could find something fully functional for this miserable board.

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debian202510, ubuntu2404-202510, Arch Linux Image for VisionFive 2 lite, VisionFive 2 Lite - irradium, All of these can support vf2l very well; they all have HDMI, or support GPU, or both GPU and VPU are supported.

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7

How about Batocera?

https://updates.batocera.org/visionfive2/stable/last/batocera-riscv-visionfive2-41-20241218.img.gz

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8

This 2024 version of Batocera might not fully support VF2L. At that time, VF2L hadn’t been produced yet, and some hardware is incompatible. USB WIFI…

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I can only speak to my use case but I’m using it as a headless home lab server for VPN (Wireguard) and DNS (Pi-hole/BIND) with containers, and it’s been running smoothly. I’ve also added a PoE hat, and it’s booting from an NVMe drive.

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10

batocera 2024 won’t properly support the StarFive VisionFive 2 Lite — it was built before the Lite variant existed, so the device tree doesn’t match. that’s why USB WiFi and some peripherals act flaky.

if you want stable Ubuntu on VF2L, use a recent 24.04 (2025 build) that explicitly mentions VF2L support and ships with the correct dtb + updated u-boot. kernel 6.6+ is basically the safe zone.

older images = wrong dtb = weird hardware issues. simple as that.

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